Under-representation of visible minorities in Canada's political system : a case study of the Chinese community in Toronto

This study explores the role identity plays in Canadian politics, taking the Chinese community in Toronto as a case study. The study aims to answer two general questions: why is the Chinese community in Toronto statistically under-represented in Canada's municipal, provincial and federal elected positions? What is the community's perception of political representation and participation and their future role in Canadian politics? This study concludes that the patterns of racial minority political representation and participation are shaped by both their cultural tradition in their countries of origin and their experiences in Canadian society. The dual status of immigrants and visible minority has negatively affected their capacity to participation. Unfavorable political opportunity structure for visible minorities in general also constitutes systemic barriers for Chinese Canadians' political representation. The Chinese community is aware of their weak political status in Toronto and seeking ways to improve the situation.

Under-representation of visible minorities in Canada's political system : a case study of the Chinese community in Toronto

This study explores the role identity plays in Canadian politics, taking the Chinese community in Toronto as a case study. The study aims to answer two general questions: why is the Chinese community in Toronto statistically under-represented in Canada's municipal, provincial and federal elected positions? What is the community's perception of political representation and participation and their future role in Canadian politics? This study concludes that the patterns of racial minority political representation and participation are shaped by both their cultural tradition in their countries of origin and their experiences in Canadian society. The dual status of immigrants and visible minority has negatively affected their capacity to participation. Unfavorable political opportunity structure for visible minorities in general also constitutes systemic barriers for Chinese Canadians' political representation. The Chinese community is aware of their weak political status in Toronto and seeking ways to improve the situation.

Come Fly With Me: Analyzing The F-35 Aircraft Acquisition Discourse to Study Incivility in Question Period

The main objective behind the parliamentary practice of Question Period is to ensure that the government is held accountable to the people. Rather than being a political accountability tool and a showcase of public discourse, these deliberations are most often displays of vitriolic political rhetoric. I will be focusing my research on the ways in which incivil political discourse permeates the political mediascape with respect to one instance in Canadian politics - the acquisition of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. I believe that incivility in the political discourse of Question Period must be understood within the mechanics of the contemporary public sphere. By interrogating the complexities of how political discourse is being mediatized, produced and consumed within the prevailing ideological paradigms, I identify some of the contemporary social, cultural and political practices that produce incivility in parliamentary discourse.

Come Fly With Me: Analyzing The F-35 Aircraft Acquisition Discourse to Study Incivility in Question Period

The main objective behind the parliamentary practice of Question Period is to ensure that the government is held accountable to the people. Rather than being a political accountability tool and a showcase of public discourse, these deliberations are most often displays of vitriolic political rhetoric. I will be focusing my research on the ways in which incivil political discourse permeates the political mediascape with respect to one instance in Canadian politics - the acquisition of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. I believe that incivility in the political discourse of Question Period must be understood within the mechanics of the contemporary public sphere. By interrogating the complexities of how political discourse is being mediatized, produced and consumed within the prevailing ideological paradigms, I identify some of the contemporary social, cultural and political practices that produce incivility in parliamentary discourse.

Rhetorical versus Substantive Reconciliation After Cultural Genocide in Canada

The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (‘TRC’) report calls for the Canadian government and (settler) Canadians to acknowledge the painful past of the Indian Residential Schools (‘IRS’) (1890s–1990s) and to chart a new nation-to-nation(s) relationship with Canada’s Indigenous peoples. However, the reconciliation discourse replicates unequal power dynamics between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities endemic in Canadian politics and society. The selective listening of the IRS story is grounded in a constructed identity that paints Canada and (non-Indigenous) Canadians as an inclusive and tolerant society. This self-conception has led various levels of government to emphasize the idea of reconciliation as a process by which settler colonialism is conceptualized as a closed historical event that is now firmly in the past. There is little acknowledgement that the logic and structures of settler colonialism, which as the TRC notes amounts to cultural genocide, are still foundational to contemporary Canadian politics, law, economy, and society.

Party Unity and Discipline in Canadian Politics

Anyone with a passing understanding of Canadian politics is aware of the stubborn presence of party discipline in the parliamentary system. It is not a phenomenon that has been left to the stuffy corners of the ivory tower. Political actors and the media have complained about party discipline for decades. Reforms have been proposed; party leaders have promised new ways forward. As a central trait of Canadian Parliament, party discipline has driven away voters—it has even inspired the development of new political parties. What role can Canadian political science play in understanding party discipline 75 years after these familiar sentiments appeared in the predecessor to this journal: “How could this control [party discipline] be destroyed, and the individual member be made an independent critic of government and of legislation, and a responsible servant of the people” (Morton, 1946: 136)? It turns out Canadian political science has much to offer. With the publication of J. F. Godbout's Lost on Division: Party Unity in the Canadian Parliament and Alex Marland's Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada, 2020 has been a monumental year for the study of Canadian Parliament and political parties.